Friday, February 08, 2008

"The baptism and marriage records of the Roman Catholic Church are iterative records in that an individual’s baptism register also includes confirmation, marriage, religious vows and holy orders. Marriage records include subsequent annulment information. Canon 535 currently requires each parish to keep the baptism, confirmation, marriage and death registers. The Statutes of the Archdiocese of St. Louis require that the parish maintain a register for First Communion. The Archives updates the registers of closed parishes and issues current certificates to the individuals named in the registers of the closed parishes. Currently the Archives maintain sacramental records of 98 closed parishes. All sacramental records are transferred to the Archives including Baptism, Marriage, First Communion, Confirmation, sick call registers, and death and burial records, prenuptial information and the parish seal. Archives staff members issue certificates for sacramental and official reasons. No access is granted to records after 1930 without written consent to anyone other than the person named in the record or his/her guardian, except for official church purposes. After the passage of time, however, the restriction is lifted and the records are made available to the public for genealogical purposes. Records created in 1930 and prior are available without the requirement of authorization from the individual noted in the record. A nominal $10 fee is charged for these records.”

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